the richard

Richard Branson (London, 1950) is the enfant terrible of the business world. His hippie-like appearance doesn’t immediately suggest that he’s head of Virgin Group, which consists of over 200 companies in some 20 countries. For Branson, the sky’s the limit. Actually, it isn’t. Because the British entrepreneur was also the first person to cross the Atlantic (1987) and the Pacific (1991) Oceans in a hot-air balloon. He subsequently established Virgin Galactic, the first commercial space travel company. A ticket for one of these flights will set you back about 200,000 dollars. He has recently renewed his involvement in air travel, and has ambitious plans: “I think in my children’s lifetime you’ll definitely be able fly from London to Australia in maybe less than two hours.” It sounds incredible, but who knows? The notion of ‘impossible’ doesn’t seem to mean much to Branson.